An Exchange of Sports 2
by sakura-blossoms-falling
Summary: Rin's old team from America shows up in Japan for the U-17 Women's World Cup hosted in Japan. Both the Seirin basketball team and Enoshima soccer team have some fun at the beach.
1. Chapter 1

**This sequel is going to focus more on Area no Kishi and their activities, but there are still going to be KuroBasu characters in here...just not for the next two/three chapters. There are also going to be a slew of OC's introduced. If that bothers anyone, sorry, but I really wanted to write more about soccer since I am a soccer player, after all.**

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Sequel 1

It had been close to two weeks since the exciting day with the Seirin students and the encounter with the Generation of Miracles. The Enoshima soccer Club had traveled to Tokyo to see the finals match between Kamakura and Shukyu which Kamakura lost in the end. Now they were back home, preparing themselves for the Winter Cup.

While everyone was focused on practicing, Rin was sitting in the bleachers, staring off into space. She had both headphones of her iPod in and she had her feet on the bench in front of her while she rested her chin on her hand. She had received a call early that morning from Liz, the captain of the U-17 USA Women's National Team. She had told her that they were currently leaving for Japan for the U-17 Women's World Cup. They would arrive sometime tomorrow.

Snapping out of her daydream, she looked down at the players running around on the field. Right now they were doing footwork exercises with the managers and coaches studying them carefully. She spotted Nana shouting something that was lost in the breeze to Kakeru.

_Argh, those two should just date already._ Rin rolled her eyes in exasperation. _Ah, but I thought she liked Suguru. Hmmm, too bad, Kakeru,_ she shook her head slightly in sympathy. _Mmm, I should tell Coach Iwaki that I won't be at club for a while._ Rin sighed as she stood up and stretched, reaching her arms above her head. After patting her pocket to make sure that her iPod was secured, she began her descent to the field.

As she approached the field, she also looked at the boys who were on the field, especially one. _Whoa, why am I staring at him? Look away, Rin! Look away!_ She forced herself to look at the ground in front of her, trying to ignore the slight blush that colored her cheeks.

Iwaki turned around with Nana as she walked up to them. "Hello, Rin, where were you? I haven't seen you all day," Nana greeted the striker. Iwaki also said hello to her.

Rin nodded in return. "I was thinking alone."

"About what?" the coach asked.

"Tomorrow, my team from America is coming to play in the World Cup and I wanted to tell you guys that I won't be coming to club because I'll be training with them." Rin explained.

Iwaki nodded in understanding, "Oh, that's right, there is going to be the youth World Cup in two weeks. I hadn't thought about it much since I've been distracted by preparing for the Winter Cup." He chuckled. "Well, I hope you have fun playing in the tournament, do your best." Rin took that as permission to leave the club for a while and she nodded gratefully.

"Thanks a bunch, Coach. Maybe you guys can come and watch us, if you aren't busy."

"I'm sure the boys will love to see you play, since they've never seen you before. And I must say, that I'm looking forward to seeing you play as well." Iwaki smiled at her.

"Okay, I'll be sure to win just for you guys!" She grinned and gave them a thumbs up.

"Will you join us in practice today?" Iwaki asked. "Nana, you too."

Both girls' eyes lit up and Rin pumped a fist into the air. "Yeah! Boys are so going down!" Iwaki and Nana laughed and he called the players in for a rest. While they were taking their break, he divided them into teams, with Rin on one team and Nana on the other.

Rin saw that Oda, Sawamura, Kurebayashi and Hino were on her team. _I wish we had Araki, but this is good, too,_ she thought as she looked at the other ten players. Kurebayashi pulled his gloves on and set himself up in the goal while the other players all took their positions.

Hino and she were the two forwards with Oda and Sawamura in the midfield. They got ball first. She could see Kakeru and Nana ready to charge at them. The game began with a swift back pass to Oda from Hino. They took off for the opposite goal. Oda dribbled it a little ways and then passed to another player when Mako challenged him.

Possession bounced back and forth between the two teams with neither getting a chance at shooting on goal. Finally, Kakeru's team had a breakthrough from a terrific pass that Araki sent with Kakeru chasing it and Nana square to him.

Kakeru beat two defenders and then passed to Nana who was in the penalty area. Rin grinned in the pure joy of playing she felt as she slide tackled her from the side. Nana lost the ball and Rin quickly took possession of it, driving it hard up to where Hino was waving his arm. After passing, she printed up the field, calling for the ball again.

She received the ball just outside the right edge of the penalty area and without hesitation she one-touched the ball straight for the goal. Akitoshi jumped out to catch the ball, but it was above his head and he thought it was going out. Two other defenders were rushing towards him and he called them off, sure that ball was going to sail over the crossbar.

Much to his surprise, the ball did not go over the goal, but hit the upper edge of the crossbar, rebounding it high into the air and headed for the open space created by the two defenders rushing into the six, right in the middle of the penalty box.

There was a fierce scramble as the players on all sides switched direction to try and be the first one to the ball. The one who beat them all was none other than Rin who cut neatly in front of a defender and, without letting the ball touch the ground, took another shot; this time to the upper left corner, where Akitoshi was not. He jumped for it, but the ball sailed into the net, well beyond his reach. He landed heavily on his side.

Rin celebrated her goal by doing a back flip. Hino clapped her on the shoulder before giving her a hug. "That was a nice goal, Rin!"

She just smiled and said, "It was nothing compared to what Tsubaki can do. She's a lot better at hitting the ball off the post than I am."

He stared at her, "There's someone that can do that intentionally?"

She nodded. "Yeah, she hits it off the post, messes up the defense and the goalie and then either me or Liz pounds it into the goal. It's not very hard, really." She was very proud of her teammates.

"That's crazy," Hino said, shaking his head as he let go of her and they jogged back to their side of the field.

Rin was too busy grinning and explaining to him that there was really someone who can do that to notice that a certain midfielder was looking at the two of them in slight jealousy.

The game ended with Rin scoring another four goals and Hino scoring one. She teased him as they walked off the field back to the club room.

Nana looked at the two strikers as they walked away and then she glanced at the tall midfielder who was also staring after them. _Poor Oda,_ she sympathized. She knew that Rin didn't flirt, it was physically impossible for her to flirt, but the closeness that she shared with some people could be taken the wrong way.

She remembered a time back when she was still living in America when she thought that Rin and her best friend were dating when they weren't. She had been so embarrassed while Rin and her friend had almost died laughing.

She shook her head at the memory, a small smile on her lips as she headed into the girl's locker room to get changed.

After coming out and finding Kakeru and Rin waiting for her, the trio made their way home.

"Rin, do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?" Nana asked as they walked.

"That would be wonderful. Now I don't have to set that damned alarm! I swear, I have a heart attack every single time it goes off!" Rin complained about her phone alarm.

"Can't you just change the sound?" Nana asked. She froze for a few seconds and Nana laughed. "Guess you didn't think about that, huh?" She laughed again at Rin's pouting face.

"I guess I never thought about it. I was always too angry at it to try and look." She pulled her phone out and began to mess with the different sounds. Finally, she picked the BellTower tone, it was quieter, but still loud and different enough that she would wake up and it had a smooth sound to it. "Wow, thanks, Nana. I hadn't even thought of it." Rin thanked her as she put her phone away.

"Anytime," she replied. They came to the side street and Rin said goodbye to Nana and Kakeru. She reached into her pocket where her iPod was and turned the volume up. It was an upbeat, Korean pop song and she began to dance her way to her apartment.

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**Alright, so I am back, kinda. I'm trying to challenge myself and write a bit of romance, which I suck at. But there won't be a lot! Just slight...and if it's cheesy I apologize. This sequel is going to be shorter than the first, hopefully. School is starting soon and I want to finish before all the stress makes my brain explode.**

**I got the idea for the U-17 World Cup from the U-20 Women's World Cup that is currently going on in Japan. Watch, if you're interested. YouTube channel: ussoccerdotcom. When I found out that there was going to be such a tournament in Japan I was over the top happy. So this story is born from that. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is the chapter where the new OCs are introduced and I'm bringing Leonardo into the story because he is amazing and I love him.**

**Bold** is English speaking

Regular is Japanese

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Chapter 2

**"Ah, the fresh Japanese air!" **A girl with her long red hair in a braid down to the middle of her back exclaimed loudly as she exited the airport's doors. She threw both arms out to the side and lifted her head back and inhaled sharply.

She was hit from behind. "**Ow!" **She rubbed her head and turned around to glare at the half Japanese girl who was giving her the raised eyebrow look.** "Tsubaki! That was mean!" **She faked a sniffle.

The other girl just rolled her eyes.** "Whatever, just get on the bus, Liz." **She pointed her foot (because her arms were currently full) at a long bus that sat idling on the side.

Liz continued pouting for a few seconds as the half Japanese walked away. She was nudged from the side again.** "Come on, Captain, you are being over dramatic." **The tall goal keeper smiled down at her captain from her eight inch height advantage.

The captain of the U-17 USA Women's National Team conceded her loss and grabbed the handles on her suitcases and headed for the bus.

The bus took the team right to their hotel and they disembarked. The entire team and coaching staff could feel the jet-lag and they went to their rooms and slept for a few hours to get back on their feet.

Liz, Tsubaki, Kat (the goal keeper) and Sal, the youngest on the team, were the first ones to wake up after their power nap. After showering and changing into fresh clothes, the five left a note for their teammates and coach and then slipped out of the hotel.

**"Where did Rin say she was going to school?"** Liz asked her friends. They wandered aimlessly around the streets of Tokyo. She nudged Tsubaki in the side. **"You're our translator, 'kay?"** Tsubaki rolled her eyes, but gave a quick nod.

**"Um, she never said, actually,"** Sal murmured.

Liz spun around, **"What?! How can we not know here our best friend is going to school?"** She thought back to all her conversations with the striker and came up with a blank. She had a really bad memory. **"Oh gosh, I think you're right. We don't know where she goes to school!"**

Tsubaki rolled her eyes again. **"Just call her."** Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. **"What?!"** She challenged.

Kat sighed and then said. **"My phone doesn't work overseas, how about you guys?" **Both Liz and Sal shook their heads.

Tsubaki sighed and rubbed her forehead. **"Guess we can't do that,"** she said.

**"Oh, oh, oh!"** Liz raised her arm and jumped up and down in excitement, drawing stares from the Japanese people around them.

**"Yes, Liz?"** Tsubaki gritted her teeth.

She lowered her arm and then exclaimed. **"What about her cousin? Leonardo...Silva, was his name?"** She smiled at her geniusness.

Kat shrugged, **"Could work. Where does he go to school?"**

Liz thought for a moment. **"Oh, right, he goes to a school with a really strong soccer team. It started with an 'S' but I'm not good at Japanese."** She stared pointedly at Tsubaki.

**"Shukyu, or something like that,"** the midfielder replied with a sigh.

**"Okay, now we just need to ask directions!"** Liz, Kat and Sal all turned to Tsubaki and smiled.

The half Japanese sweatdropped. _Sheesh, these girls are like five years olds! But I'm still best friends with them. I must be insane!_ She was baffled by her own willingness to hangout with this bunch of weirdos. **"Sure, I'll ask."** She received three beaming smiled in response.

_Aish,_ she used a Korean curse that she picked up from Rin as she looked around to find someone who looked like they could help them. She spotted a trio of girls in uniforms and decided to ask them.

"Hello," she greeted as she approached the girls, she bowed slightly. The girls bowed back.

Liz, Kat and Sal stood where Tsubaki had left them and watched as their half Japanese friend spat out rapid-fire Japanese. All three had stupefied looks on their faces. Tsubaki said goodbye to the girls and walked back over to her teammates.

**"We are in luck! All we have to do is take the subway train to XX Station and then it's a five minute walk to the school."** Tsubaki reported.

Liz, still amazed at what she had just witnessed, absently patted her friend on the head. **"You're amazing, Tsu,"** she said.

Tsubaki glared at her captain. **"Did you hear me?!"**

**"Yes! Yes, I did! Loud and clear!"** Liz snatched her hand away and stood up straight like a soldier. **"To the train station!"** She pointed in a random direction and then looked at Tsubaki. **"Where's the train station?"**

Tsubaki face-palmed.

* * *

**"Ah! This is Shukyu High School?"** The four Americans all gazed in awe at the huge complex. Before them stretched soccer fields that were so green and perfect they looked like a picture.

**"Wow, they have soccer fields freaking all over the place! Even all the way over there!"** Kat, being several inches taller than the rest at 6'4", pointed into the distance.

"**How the heck can you see that far?"** Sal asked as she stood on her tiptoes and tried to see what her friend was pointing at. Unfortunately, she didn't even reach her friend's shoulder.

**"Well, now begins the hard task of finding the actual team,"** Liz mumbled.

Tsubaki was already gone and talking to two boys who were walking by. She came back and pointed to the left. **"They said that the soccer club practices over there."** She led the way.

When the reached the fields, all four of them gasped. **"Those are some ****_very_**** fine fields,"** Liz commented.

**"I see them,"** Sal said, pointing to the right.

**"Great! Let's go, then. Sooner we get Leo, sooner we get to see Rin!"** Liz took off at a sprint, forcing the others to catch up with her.

**"Yo! Leo!"**

**"Yoohoo! Pretty boy!"**

**"Oh, Leonardo Silva~!"**

**"HEY, THE BOY WHO WEARS PURPLE BUNNY PAJAMAS! LOOK OVER HERE DAMN IT!"**

Leonardo finally looked over when Liz screamed that lovely piece of information out for the entire soccer club to hear. He saw four girls jumping up and down, waving their arms. Well, correction, only three, the fourth, Tsubaki was just standing with her arms crossed as she glared daggers into the back of his skull.

**"Do you know them, Leonardo?"** Ricky asked.

He looked at the tall boy from Argentina. **"They are my cousin's friends."**

The four had begun to jog towards him and he saw his coach was not too pleased about it. **"Yo! Leo! Is Rin here?"** Liz demanded as soon as she was close to the Brazilian player.

Leonardo was startled. "**Rin? No, she goes to Enoshima High School."** He almost flinched when four pairs of eyes were boring hole right through him.

**"What? She didn't come to the same school as you? What kind of cousins are you?"** Kat demanded.

**"Well, we're distant cousins and not even really related."** Leonardo defended himself.

Ricky decided to butt in at that moment. "Just who do you four think you are?"He asked in Japanese.

All of them just looked at him with a blank expression except for Tsubaki. "We are teammates of Rin Faolin. We didn't know what school she went to and we thought she went to the same school as Leo over here." She jerked a thumb at the Brazilian. "Who are you?"

Before Ricky could say anything, his coach came huffing over. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, disrupting my players with your pompous attitude!?" He was red in the face as he hammered into the four teenage girls. Tsubaki relayed the coach's angry words.

None of them even blinked. **"We were looking for someone."** Liz replied blandly.

"Well, look somewhere else! I am running a practice here, and I won't have some teenage girls ruining it!"

Kat raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin to stare defiantly at the coach. They were eye and eye. **"'Scuse me?"** She said in a deadly low voice. "We are fully aware that this is a top-notch school for soccer, but honestly, it's just high school soccer. It's not going to make your players wither and die just from not practicing for five minutes." Tsubaki translated.

The coach glared at her in silence. "Just high school soccer, you say?" He finally challenged. He smirked. "Well, why don't you four test that theory against my players and see if they are really just high school players?" He stared at the four of them. Tsubaki again translated.

They looked at each other and then their faces broke into smiles. **"Settlin' things with soccer, eh? Puttin' your money where your mouth is, huh? Let's do it,"** Liz accepted. She hit one fist into the open palm of the other hand as she relished the idea of having a small match. Tsubaki told the coach, yes.

"How about two vs. two," the coach suggested smugly. He glanced at Leonardo and Ricardo out of the corner of his eye. "Ricardo and Leonardo."

Liz snickered. **"Ricardo, Leonardo, they rhythm." **She stopped her giggling and stared right into the coach's eyes. **"Let's do this then**!" The group took a step away from the smug coach and lined up. **"Rock, paper, scissors!"** Liz yelled.

Kat picked rock, Tsubaki picked scissors, Sal did rock and Liz did paper. **"Tsubaki, your out."** Tsubaki stepped away and they did it again. This time Kat was out; leaving Liz and Sal. **"Guess, we're doing this."** Liz slung an arm over Sal's small shoulders and looked at the coach. **"We're ready. How we gonna do this?"** Tsubaki translated.

"Two vs. two to goal; full field." The coach ordered the other players off the field and they filed to the sidelines to watch. After Tsubaki told Liz what he'd said, Liz jumped up and pointed to the side without the setting sun.

**"Call it!"** She started dragging Sal over, shouting over her shoulder to Leonardo, **"You're going down, punk!" **Leonardo just stood there in silence. Why did he always get the weird ones?

"First goal wins!" The coach shouted when both players were set. He had one of his kids punt the ball to Leonardo.

Liz sprinted forward to intercept. **"Sneaky, you cheeky, no-good coach!"** She won the ball out of the air with a header. And she followed it, sprinting for Leonardo's goal; Sal trailing behind her.

Ricardo ran to cut her off and succeeded in stealing the ball from her. The corners of her lips turned upward as she let Ricardo get away with the ball. **"Sal!"** She called. **"Your turn!"**

Ricardo passed it to Leonardo who took off full speed for Liz and Sal's goal. Liz was waiting up at the half line, not bothering to come back to help defend. She had complete faith in the youngest member of their team.

Sal confronted Leonardo and he stopped, with one foot on the ball. He looked at the small girl in front of him. Her defensive posture was on target and her eyes were staring right into his eyes. He had never actually seen any of Rin's teammates play before; he just knew that they were good. He decided to pass to Ricardo who was running up the right side. Just before he struck the ball, the girl in front of him moved so fast, that she was blur, suddenly, she was right on him, almost on top of him. He got the pass off successfully, and he watched the girl halt. She didn't chase the ball.

This had both Leonardo and Ricardo confused. None the less, Ricardo saw that neither girl was moving and he decided that he was close enough to the goal for an easy shot. He one-touched it and it rocketed for the goal.

It ricocheted off the top of the goal and went beyond it. Ricardo stopped in shock. His shot had been dead on. How had he missed when the goal was wide open? Not a person in sight. Sal ran to get the ball.

She returned and dribbled slowly back onto the field. Leonardo saw her look at Liz and knew she was going to send a long ball to the red head. He started running back to the half line, where Liz was standing with her hands on her hips.

**"Glad to see you again, Leo,"** she greeted him, deadpan. He ignored that.

Sal continued to dribble up into the penalty area, not trying a pass or anything. She was getting no pressure and she couldn't…won't do anything until Ricardo came charging at her. She waited and sure enough, the Argentina boy's patience was thin and he was sick of this ridiculous play. He ran forward, aiming to slide tackle the girl.

Just before reaching her, Sal suddenly spun around to her own goal and kicked it. "What?!" Ricardo yelled. Leonardo was also surprised and he looked at Liz; only to find her sprinting full speed toward the ball. It had hit the cross bar dead on and had rebounded to outside of the penalty box. Liz scooped it up and turned, flicking it over the head of Leonardo who had come up behind her and dribbling forward to the other goal.

While Leonardo was extremely fast, and while most players were slower with the ball at their feet, Liz was one of the few players who ran _faster_ with the ball at their feet. She led Leonardo by at least two yards and she ran an easy ball into the opposing goal.

Sal ran up next to her and they gave each other a high-five. **"Nice,"** Sal congratulated her captain. The two girls went back to where Tsubaki and Kat were waiting.

Tsubaki turned to the coach and asked, "How was that?" He just growled in response.

Leonardo and Ricardo jogged over and Liz faced Leonardo again. **"So where is this Enoshima school?"**

**"It's in XX Prefecture."** He then gave directions to get to the school.

Liz clapped him on the shoulder, **"Thank you, that's all we needed."** She turned away and started walking with the other three falling in beside her. **"See ya, Leo."** She stuck her tongue out at the enraged coach as she walked past. She snickered as he bristled in anger. **"Oh, and if you want to come see us play, the U-17 Women's World Cup starts in two weeks! We're opening against Portugal!"** She shouted at the Brazilian.

"World Cup?!" The coach gasped.

Tsubaki smirked. "Yep, we are national level players, just like your precious three foreign players." She pointed to where Leonardo, Ricardo and Patrick, the player from Cameroon, were standing. The coach just gritted his teeth and turned away in a huff.

"If your business is finished then leave." He snapped. He turned to look at the four again and choked in surprise; they were already tiny dots in the distance. _How the hell-?_ He wondered.

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**I seriously cut and pasted and rewrote this chapter like five times and I am so done with it. Next chapter will be a beach scene :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Ah! The beach!" Rin sighed as she inhaled the salty sea spray. With her were Nana, Kakeru, Araki, Oda, Mako, Sawamura, Kota, Takase, Kaoru and Kurebayashi. They were all dressed for a day of fun at the beach. Rin had a towel slung over her left shoulder and she carried a beach chair under the right arm. Sawamura was carrying the cooler that had drinks and snacks. The beach was littered with people seeking the warmth of the sun.

They found an empty spot and set their towels and chairs down. Rin carefully arranged her spot with her chair facing the sun and her towel was hanging on the back. She gave a sigh of relief as she sank into her chair. Nana had laid out a towel and was sitting on it next to her.

"Is Riko coming?" Nana asked her.

Rin slipped her sun glasses on and settled back. "Yeah, she said she'd be here later with Kuroko and them." The Seirin basketball coach had called her earlier that morning and the two had made plans to meet up at the beach.

"We haven't seen them in awhile," Nana said as she rubbed sun screen over her arms and legs. "Are you going swimming?"

Rin shook her head. "I don't like water."

Nana smiled. "That's weird."

"Well, I am a weird person."

Kakeru came up to them with a volleyball in his hand. "Do you guys want to play with us?" Nana nodded and Rin also got up from her chair.

There was an empty beach volleyball net next to one that was already being used. The teams were divided with Kakeru, Nana, Rin, Oda and Kurebayashi. The other team was Araki, Mako, Sawamura, Kota and Kaoru. There was a heated debate on who would get Takase since the team would have more players and he was so tall. Finally, he was put on Araki's team as a sub.

The two teams hit the volleyball back and forth over the net with Rin hitting spike after spike. Eventually, Rin was forbidden to spike anymore.

**"Not fair!"** She whined when Takase hit a spike. "Why can he spike and I can't?" She pointed an accusing at the tall forward.

"Because you're only 5'4" and yet you can spike like a pro!" Araki argued. She stuck her tongue out at him as Mako served.

* * *

"Nana! Rin, we're here!" Both girls, along with their male teammates, looked over to where Aida Riko was standing, waving her arms, with the rest of the Seirin basketball team behind her.

"Hi, Riko!" Rin yelled as she ran over and hugged the basketball coach. "Glad you're here!" She let go and then turned to Kagami and Kuroko. "**'Sup**," she did the 'sup' nod to Kagami. He looked down at her and then nodded back.

"We're playing volleyball right now, do you want to join?" Nana asked.

Aida smiled. "Sure." The Seirin team was split up between the Enoshima players.

Luckily, Kagami was put on Rin's team, which evened out the height issue. As the two teams played, Rin and Kagami became a fearsome pair. Both of them could hit hard, lightning fast spikes that left the other team speechless.

"I think that we could compete in a beach volleyball competition, right?" Rin asked Kagami after he had hit another spike.

"I'd crush them," he said confidently.

She raised an eyebrow. "You? How conceited," she snorted.

He gaped at her incredulously, "What?! Conceited? Who's conceited?" He glared down at the shorter striker.

She smirked up at him, "A certain red-headed, freakishly tall, basketball lover." She crossed her arms and glared back. The glares clashed and caused the atmosphere around them to become stormy.

"How about we see who can do the most spikes?" Kagami challenged.

"You're on, ginger!" Rin accepted. With a huff, they both turned away from each other. Nana and Riko looked at each other and sighed at the same time. They had such competitive friends.

* * *

Rin collapsed onto her back in the sand, the sun beating down on her. She had lost to Kagami by one spike and that was only because she had tripped while getting ready to jump. Kagami had laughed his head off at her when they stopped playing and Rin had tripped him in return. He did a nice face-plant right into the sand and came up spitting sand everywhere.

A shadow came over her face, blocking the sun and she opened her eyes. Oda stood above her with a cold water bottle in his hand. Drops of condensation plopped on her cheek. "Here, water." He bent down to give it to the tired striker.

"Thanks, Ryoma," Rin reached up and took the water bottle and uncapped it. Sitting up, she took several large gulps and then screwed the cap back on.

"Did you have fun?" Oda asked as he was knelt down beside her.

She laughed and nodded. "He's so fun and easy to tease. Ah, it's great," she leaned back on her hands and lifted her face up to the sun again. Oda looked at her as she enjoyed the sun's rays. He had never met a girl as strange and unpredictable as Rin before.

Both teens were interrupted by a shrill scream and yell. They looked over in alarm, expecting to see someone drowning or something. What they saw instead had Rin jumping up and sprinting down the beach.

**"Guys!"** Rin yelled as she jumped and tackled the red-headed captain. She was soon buried under a heap of bodies.

**"Hey, hey, let the poor girl breathe!"** Their coach ordered. The girls all crawled off their teammate and let the coach help his player up.

**"Thanks, David."** Rin said as she was pulled up into a hug. **"I missed you guys."**

David smiled and then let Rin go and held her at arm's length and looked her up and down. **"You seem well,"** he noted.

Rin grinned, **"Well, I've been keeping up with practice…kind of."** The U-17 team all walked back with Rin to where the Enoshima and Seirin students were looking at them.

"Hey, Rin, who are they?" Araki asked as he looked at the group of girls behind her.

Rin grinned as she introduced them. "This is Head Coach David of the U-17 USA Women's National Team and this is the team." She pointed at Liz, "The captain, Liz," she let the rest of the team introduce themselves.

"Wait, wait, wait." Araki held up his hands. "The U-17 National Team? You're on the national team?" He stared at Rin.

"Yeah, I have been since I was fifteen," Rin answered slowly. "Does that shock you?"

"Yeah! You never told us!"

"You never asked. And besides, it's not that impressive. I mean you were on the U-15 National Team, right?" Rin shrugged carelessly.

Araki thought for a moment. "Well, yeah, I am awesome, but I never expected _you_…" He trailed off.

"Thanks, really. I love how much confidence you have in me," Rin rolled her eyes.

* * *

Kagami looked up from where he was sitting in the sand next to Kuroko when he heard the shrill scream. He saw Rin take off like a rocket towards a group of girls farther down the beach. "What's got her like that?" He wondered aloud. He saw Rin get tackled by the girls and snickered. _What a shorty_.

He heard her introduce the girls to them, the U-17 USA Women's National Team. _National team, huh? She must be pretty good then._ He thought. When he was in the States, he never paid any kind of attention to anything other than basketball, so he really didn't know anything about soccer, but anything with the word 'national' in the title had to be good, no matter what sport.

**"These people are from the Seirin Basketball Club."** Kagami looked up to see Rin pointing a laser finger right at him. He scowled and she returned it with a smirk. **"They are from a different school, but we recently became friends. That one is Kagami Taiga."**

Kagami saw a red-headed girl staring at him with wide eyes. **"His hair is even redder than mine!"** She pointed dramatically at her carrot red hair.

An extremely tall girl with brown hair stared at him as well. "**Well, I wouldn't say ****_more_**** red. It's just a deeper red; like the color of blood."** Kagami glared at them. _Insulting my hair now, are they?_

Rin continued with her introductions, "The one sitting next to him is Kuroko Tetsuya. He was part of a wicked strong basketball team in middle school."

"Whoa, I didn't even see him sitting there!" The red head said in amazement.

"Really?! You're an idiot." A black haired girl who looked partly Asian scoffed.

"Hey! I bet you didn't notice him either until Rin pointed him out!"

"I did too!"

"Stop trying to act all cool!"

"Say that again, midget!" The black haired girl shouted.

"We're the same damn height!" The red head fumed.

"Wanna fight?!"

"Let's do it!"

"ENOUGH!" The tall brown haired girl shouted. Both girls froze. She stood towering over the two girls with the look of death in her eyes. "Can't you two children stop your pointless bickering for two minutes?!" The two looked away in shame. "Don't make me send you back to America. Now apologize for your rude behavior!"

Both girls dropped to their knees and bowed. "We're very sorry!" The brown haired girl nodded in satisfaction.

Kagami was more than a little shocked at the fierceness that the tall girl showed. He stood up, brushing sand off his swimming trunks and noticed something slightly disturbing. The sergeant-like girl was taller then him.

"Just how tall are you?" He guessed that she was around two inches taller then he was.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "6'4", why?"

Kagami's mind was completely blown. He knew that Murasakibara Atsushi was close to 6'8", and that was ridiculous by itself, but he had never encountered a girl who was 6'4" before. "A-amazing."

Rin nudged the girl with an elbow. "Kat, I think he's interested in you~!" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Both persons stared at the shorter girl incredulously. "You're delusional," was the simple answer and Kat turned away.

Rin pouted. "Am not," she muttered.

* * *

**This might take me longer than I originally planned. School starts in a week and a half. *SOBS***

**Next chapter I might add a GoM character is here, not really sure yet.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's a short one.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Aida approached Rin while the latter was sitting on the sidelines of the volleyball court while a group of their friends played since the court was not big enough to accommodate everyone. "So, how has the last two weeks been?" She asked as she sat down next to her.

Rin smiled at her. "Busy, we went to the finals match between Kamakura and Shukyu. It was an intense game, but Shukyu won. Probably because my obnoxious cousin goes there." She rolled her eyes at the thought of her older Brazilian cousin.

"Oh," Aida muttered. She really didn't know what to say when it came to a soccer game. She had seen her dad work with some soccer players, but she herself had never taken much interest in the sport.

"Well, I'm going to be in the U-17 Women's World Cup in two weeks. You guys should come and watch if you're free!" Rin offered.

"I'm guessing that's a major game?" Aida asked hesitantly. She didn't want to sound dumb, but she had never before heard of the name Rin had just mentioned.

"It's a big tournament. For some players, it'll be their first world cup or their first time playing on the world stage. It's an honor." Rin explained.

"So which is it for you? Is this your first World Cup?" Aida asked.

Rin gave a small smile and then shook her head. "No, it's my second. My first was two years ago. I've been on the U-17 National Team since I was fifteen. 15 caps and 79 goals."

"Is that a good record?" Aida asked.

Rin shrugged, but she couldn't hide the grin that spread across her face. "I'd say it's pretty good. That's a little more than five goals a game." Aida nodded in understanding.

"Hey, hey, Rin, Riko!" Nana called from the court. "Come play with us!"

"But there's too many people!" Rin answered.

"It's okay, Kurebayashi and Koganei are going to take a break." She pointed at the tired basketball player and goal keeper stumbling towards the chairs and towels.

"Okay, then," Rin stood up and offered a hand to Aida. She grabbed her hand and lifted herself up.

**"I want Rin on my team!" **Kat called out. Rin smiled and ducked under the net while Aida stood next to Nana.

**"You should have been a volleyball player instead of a soccer player," **she commented to her friend as she took her place next to her.

Sal looked over and smiled. **"You know that her mom tried to get her to play when she was, like, five."**

Kat shook her head in amusement. **"Instant rejection." **She went to the back of the court and threw the ball up to serve. As she threw it up, she quickly reviewed the positions of everyone on the court, especially where Kagami and Takase, who were on the other team. She snapped her arm forward and the ball rocketed over the net at a sharp angle straight for Kakeru.

He panicked and threw his hands up to shield himself from the bullet serve. The ball hit his arms and bounced under the net. Kat nodded in satisfaction.

Everyone on the court sweat-dropped. _You're too strong, Kat._ Rin thought to herself. She was glad that she was on the same team as her.

Kat served ten straight points and finally Liz ordered her to switch. Reluctantly, she tossed the ball to Sal, while the others on the court breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she was almost a foot and a half shorter than her teammate, Sal was very good at serving to places that were difficult to reach.

Rin was about to suggest letting the other team get a chance to serve and then she thought better of it. Kagami looked like he could kill someone with his arm strength. She didn't want him to have the ball anytime soon.

* * *

**"Spike!"** Liz yelled at Rin as the latter ran up the net after her captain had set a perfect ball. Rin jumped up until her head and shoulders were above the top of the net and swung with all her strength.

The ball went right through Kagami's legs and bounced out of bounds. She landed and grinned at the power player. "Got'cha," she teased.

Kagami gritted his teeth and resolved to get the shorty back for it. His change came three serves later when Kakeru set a ball high into the air. Kagami did one of his ridiculous where he seemed to fly and prepared to hammer the ball home. As he swung, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye and gasped in shock as Kat jumped up and tipped the ball just out of his reach. The ball hit the sand on his side of the net.

**"Nice job, Kat!"** Rin hugged her friend in excitement.

Kagami stared at her in shock. How had she blocked him? Kat smiled at him. **"Rin told me about your impressive jumping skills. It's really easy to overcome, really."** She shrugged and turned around, leaving Kagami gulping air like a fish.

* * *

The three different groups spent the rest of the day at the beach and finally David called together his team as it was time for them to go back their hotel to prepare for an intense day of training the next morning.

"Will you come to the training camp, Rin?" He asked the striker.

Rin nodded. "Yeah, I took some time off of school for it."

David sighed and rubbed his forehead. He hated when his players had to take time away from school to play in these overseas tournaments. He felt that a young person's education was extremely important, especially now when they are junior and senior in high school. "Okay, okay, here's you ID card." He handed her a laminated tag attached to a lanyard. She took is and hung it around her neck. "Practice is at 9 o'clock and it ends at 5. We'll take an hour long break for lunch and rest." He looked at Rin who nodded. "Okay, then, we're off. See you tomorrow." He turned around and the team followed him after saying goodbye to the teammate they were leaving behind.

"Don't forget to set your alarm, lazy," Liz teased as she ruffled her hair when she walked past.

Rin brushed her hand aside. "I won't, I won't. I'd prefer not to do sprints for three hours." Liz just laughed and nodded in agreement. Their coach was unforgivable to anyone who was late.

Rin watched with a bit of sadness and also excitement as her team walked back to their bus. She wanted to go with them so bad!

"Rin! We're leaving!" She turned around when Nana shouted at her and gave herself a mental shrug. She would see them tomorrow. She jogged over to the Enoshima players and grabbed her towel and chair from Oda.

"Riko and them left early, huh?" Nana said as the group walked away from the beach.

"She said something about a hard practice tomorrow," Rin answered. Soon the group split up as each person went off to their own homes. Nana, Kakeru and Rin all walked down the road together.

"Tomorrow, you're going to the training camp?" Nana asked.

"Yeah, I probably won't be in school either."

Kakeru sighed wistfully. "I wish I was like you."

She gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Since I wasn't chosen to be a representative for the U-16 team," Kakeru sighed.

She smiled and gave him a prod with her elbow. "Don't worry about it. Not everyone gets picked their first time."

"You're right. I must work harder for the next camp!" Kakeru said defiantly.

"That's the spirit!" Rin whacked him on the back. "You'll get picked next time for sure!"

The three stopped at their intersection and Rin waved goodbye to her friends before turning down her street. She hummed quietly as she walked and she thought about the upcoming tournament. The last time they played Portugal, she had been injured and unable to play.

She opened the door to her apartment and dropped her beach stuff in the entrance way and headed for the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and then the cupboards, but saw nothing that she felt like eating. With a sigh, she closed the cupboards and thought about what to have for dinner.

"I'm craving some sweets, really. Maybe I should get some." She slipped on her shoes and headed out again. _Where can I find a sweets store around here? Maybe a bakery shop? _She aimlessly wandered down the street front shops, looking for something that would spike her interest.

After twenty minutes of searching, Rin still had not found anything that she felt in the mood to eat so she sprawled out on a bench, clutching her stomach. "I'm sooo huuungryyy~!" She cried, grabbing her middle and rolling back and forth on the bench. Behind the bench was a basketball court with some guys playing on it. She sat up and watched them, absently; still rubbing her stomach.

She saw two new people enter the court, an extremely tall with purple hair that hung around his shoulders and a shorter black haired boy. They entered the court and the black haired boy went over to the guys already playing.

Her focus zoomed in to what the purple haired guy was chewing. He had a bag of Lay's wavy potato chips. _Dude, I want those. Right now._ Rin thought as her mouth watered profusely at the sight. She hadn't had a good bag of Lay's since leaving the States, over a month ago. _I want it, I want it now._ She continued to stare in fascination at the bag and at the hand that picked out a chip periodically.

She groaned and closed her eyes. She had to look away or she would probably go over there and just take the bag right out of his hands. She stood up and looked around for a convenience store that she could buy some of those chips at. There was one right across the street and she hurriedly bought three bags.

As she walked out, with a bag under each arm, she opened the third and dug into it. _Helena is going to kill me,_ Rin thought as she walked back towards her apartment, contentedly munching on the goodies. Helena was the fitness/health coach from hell. She made the players go on super strict diets and sometimes, she even follows them after practice to make sure they don't consume anything she deems 'of the devil' such as fast food, anything with grease or salt on it, and especially candy and sweets.

Rin smirked at all the times she and her friends had wove through crowds, went through creepy back alleys and even ducked into bathrooms to escape the woman. _Ah, fun times,_ she thought.

She knew as soon as she went back to the training camp, Helena would be on her case about how unhealthy she had been since coming to Japan. She entered her apartment and closed the door with her foot behind her. That night, she finished two of the three bags and decided to save the third for later.

She crawled into bed and set her alarm for the next morning. As she snuggled down into the warm blankets, a grin spread over her face. Tomorrow, she would be back to doing what she did best, soccer.

* * *

**Don't blame me, but I wrote this while pigging out of potato chips and Cheetos. Worse lunch ever. I even threw up at soccer practice which was humiliating, but I learned my lesson. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for this being such a short chapter.**

**"Bold" **is English

"Normal" is Japanese

* * *

Chapter 5

**"Okay, girls, you did well for the first practice. Take an hour break and relax. We will be doing small sided scrimmages when you get back!" **David dismissed the girls and a loud groan of relief could be heard from the mouths of twenty girls.

Rin shrugged off the disgusting pinney and threw it back onto the pile. As she walked away, she shuddered and shook her hands to chase away the feel of the never-washed pinneys. She dropped to the ground next to Liz who was already taking her cleats and socks off.

**"Tired?"** Her captain asked as she left her socks and cleats and shin guards in a small pile under the bench. She slipped flip-flops on and stood up.

Rin just nodded and took her socks and shin guards off. She put them in a pile next to Liz's and took flip-flops out of her sports bag and dropped them on the ground.

**"So what do you guys want to do in our hour of freedom?" **Kat asked as she came up behind them, bag slung over her shoulder and Nike sandals on. Tsubaki and Sal were standing slightly behind her. Tsubaki was chewing on a piece of gum and Sal was quickly running a brush through her hair.

**"Well, there is a Yakiniki restaurant only, like, five minutes away,"** Rin said as she stood up and slipped her feet into her own flip-flops. **"We can go there. The food is amazing!"** She licked her lips in excitement just thinking about it.

**"Yay! Meat!"** Sal grinned and bounced up and down in excitement, waving the brush left and right. Tsubaki backed away to avoid getting hit.

**"Right? Last night I had two bags of chips for my dinner."** Rin said, and then caught herself in horror. She quickly looked around for Helena and saw her on the other side of the field talking with their coach and assistant coach. She put a hand to her chest and let out a sigh of relief.

Liz shook her head in pretend disappointment. "**Then, let's start walking. Rin, you'll have to lead us."** Liz said. Rin smiled and the five of them walked out of the training complex. On their way out, they passed a few players from Germany who were walking the other way, to the fields. They nodded politely in their direction and kept going.

It took only a few minutes until the five were standing outside of a traditional looking restaurant. "**Cool**!" Liz exclaimed as Rin ducked inside.

"Ah, Rin!" A voice called from one of the tables.

Liz nudged her and nodded at the guy who was waving. "**Uh, do you know him?**" Rin saw Kise Ryouta waving and smiling at her.

**"Kind of,"** she said to Liz. She walked over to the blonde basketball player. "Hello, Kise, can we sit here?" She asked, looking at the shorter, black haired boy sitting next to him.

Kise smiled and waved a hand, "Help yourself. Oh, and this is the captain of the Kaijou Basketball team, Kasamatsu Yukio." He introduced the guy with short lack hair who bowed his head in greeting.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Rin and these are my teammates, Liz, Tsubaki, Sal and Kat." Each girl dipped their head as Rin named them off.

"Are they American?" Kise asked.

"Yes, we came here for the U-17 Women's World Cup," Tsubaki answered his question. "You play basketball?" she asked.

Kise smiled. "Yep, I also played a bunch of other sports before basketball though. Soccer was one of them."

Rin was surprised. "Really? That's cool! Were you good?" She guessed that he was since he was a copy-cat and a genius player at that.

"I was the ace, but it got boring after a while, since no one could match me." Kise replied with a smile. "That's when I got into basketball."

Tsubaki nodded. "Interesting."

"Oh, he's part of the Generation of Miracles I told you Kuroko was in," Rin said.

"The ridiculously strong basketball team you mentioned before?" Tsubaki asked, "I remember. So you are a really good player. That's nice."

Kise nodded and then turned to Rin, "So, how is Nana? Does she miss my beautiful face?" SMACK! Kasamatsu had hit him with a fist.

"Is that all your brain comes back to, girls?" He growled, but Rin sensed no actual anger in his words.

"Ow, that hurt!" Kise pouted as he rubbed the bump his captain had left on his head.

All the girls except for Rin started laughing out loud. She was holding it, barely. Liz was on her back, clutching her stomach and rolling on the ground.

"Oh my gosh, now I know why you like it here so much," Liz managed to get out after calming down a little. Rin gave a small smile.

* * *

Lunch was over before anyone of them knew it and as they were going to pay, Rin pulled out her wallet, but Kise stopped her. "I'll pay for it."

"What?! Not all of it! I ate a lot and so did Liz!" In truth the two girls alone had finished three entire plates of meat. There was no way she was letting him pay for their gluttony. She tried to hand her share over, but Kise refused it.

"I can't let a girl pay," he protested and tried to force the money away from his face.

"How old fashioned is that?" Rin asked irritated. "I'm offering now take it!" He refused. "Fine then, **Kat, please grab him**!" Kat caught the surprised copy-cat player in a headlock and Rin snatched his wallet from his hand.

She paid for herself and her teammates and then she took Kise's and his captain's share out from Kise's wallet. She paid the clerk and walked out of the restaurant with Kat dragging Kise along after them.

As soon as they were out on the street, Kat let go of Kise. Rin gave him back his wallet with a smirk. "I can be very stubborn when I feel like it. Have fun," she waved as she started walking back down to the training complex; her teammates behind her.

Kise just sighed in defeat and looked at the short striker walking away and then at his wallet. Kasamatsu rolled his eyes and tugged Kise along in the other direction by his ear. "Let's go, we're going to be late."

"That's hurts! Leggo!"

* * *

1 week later

**"Alright, ladies,"** the U-17 coach said calmly as the team sat in their locker room, before heading out onto the field for their opening match against Portugal. **"You will be the ones to play this games, so go out there and be aggressive, win possession and keep it. Remember to use the wings and the outside midfielders, make sure you send those crosses into the box. Other than that, go out there and show the world what you guys can do and, most importantly, have fun. Let's bring it in."** The girls all cheered and gathered in a big circle and put their hands in.

After the huddle, Rin and Liz walked out the door together. The team lined up next to their opponent, Portugal and got ready to walk out onto the field when the signal was given.

**"You seem calm, Rin,"** Liz whispered.

Rin gave a small smile and answered, **"I was a wreck last night, but I calmed down after meeting up with Leo."**

**"Good, everyone's heads need to be clear and in the game today,"** Liz patted her shoulder and moved to her place in line. As her captain walked away, Rin took a deep breath and focused her mind on the game and what she needed to do to win.

The music started playing and the players all exited the tunnel and lined up again on either side of the referees for the anthem. Both countries' anthems were played and then the teams set up on their sides of the fields.

Rin and Liz were the strikers. Tsubaki and Brianna were the center midfielders and Lindsey and Kayla were the outside mids. Chelsea and Sal were the center backs with Jamie and Kaylee out the outside. Kat was in goal.

Rin looked up at the massive stands and wondered of her cousin and the Enoshima team were there. She had also invited Riko and her team to come, but she didn't know if they would or not.

**"Ready to do this?"** Liz asked. Rin nodded and the captain grinned like a shark, **"Then let's go."** The whistle blew and the game was on.

* * *

**Only 1 or 2 more chapters for this. School starts in three days (fml) and I still haven't finished my summer work. I'm in deep shit, I know, but I will finish it before then. I hope.**


	6. Chapter 6

**This is the last or the second to last chapter. If I feel like writing a second one, that will be the last. I'm doing good for school starting in two days :)**

* * *

The U-17 USA Women's National Team defeated Portugal by 5-2. They came out first in their group, over Portugal, Dominican Republic and Canada. They went on to the quarterfinals where they played China and won. In the semifinals, they beat their opponent Japan 4-3 in overtime. Their finals opponent was Germany where they held a 0-0 tie all the way until he last ten seconds of overtime where Germany pulled ahead. Japan won bronze in the third place match against France.

The defeat was disappointing, but all the players were satisfied that they had had a chance to play soccer against strong teams. When the silver medals were put around their necks, the team was nothing but smiles. They didn't care that they had not gotten gold; the only thing important to them was that they had fun playing.

That night, Rin was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. The game ran through her head on replay and she tried to see where she had lacked in scoring. The defense had kept disrupting her rhythm and blocking her and Liz's shots on goal. The two centerbacks were particularly annoying. The two girls had been incredibly organized and kept their defense in line perfectly. The USA team had trouble breaking through their back line the entire game.

The German team and the USA team had been matched in terms of strength, attacking and defending. USA beat them in speed thanks to Rin, Tsubaki and Sal, but even their fast breakaways had been quickly shut down by the German defense.

The whole team had been frustrated, but at the same time, they were smiling as they were pushed to their limit in terms of fitness and creativity during the game.

Rin sighed and rolled onto her side. She had seen her Japanese friends after the game and they congratulated her on their silver medal. Leonardo had also sent her a text after the game.

Her parents had called as soon as she got back to the locker room. They had watched the live stream and wanted to tell their daughter how amazing she was and how proud they were of her. Her mom also kept asking how Leonardo was doing.

Rin turned over again, still wide awake. She sighed deeply and then got up and turned on her laptop. She expected herself to be passed out by now, considering the stress she had put her body under the last two weeks. When it was loaded, she opened her Internet browser and started watching some anime to try and take her mind off the game. Three hours later, she was falling asleep and closed the top of her laptop before closing her eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

She slept through most the next day and woke up around 4 in the afternoon. She received a call from Liz asking if she was up for a day of fun at a local park.

She dragged herself out bed and got dressed. She reached the park half an hour later. She saw her four friends with Leonardo, Ricky, Nana and Kakeru, and they were all juggling a ball between them.

She walked slowly over to them. Nana looked over to her friend and stared in shock. She didn't even notice the ball that was headed her way and it hit her side. "Rin, what happened to you?" She had never seen her friend like this before.

Rin was dressed in baggy, black sweat pants and a big black sweatshirt. Her hair was sloppily thrown into a ponytail and her face looked as if she was still sleeping. She looked up when Nana called her name. She blinked a few times and then opened her mouth in a massive yawn and junked something unintelligible.

Liz laughed and scooped up the ball and balanced it on the top of her foot. She sent in with a flick towards her sleepy friend's head.

Rin calmly chested it down to her foot where she rocked it back and forth a few times before sending it Leonardo's way.

She joined their juggling circle and even though she was still half a asleep, she did well.

* * *

When the group took a break, Rin flopped onto her back next to Leonardo. "Mom was asking about you. Wanted to know why we haven't hung out yet."

Leonardo laid down next to her and folded his hands behind his head. "Auntie is always asking about me."

Rin smiled with her eyes closed. "She thinks of you as her own child."

"I know."

Liz came over and spread herself out on the grass next to Rin. She grinned over at Leonardo. "Yeah, I think she's missed you since you've been in Japan for a while. Probably misses giving you punishments!" She crackled evilly at that.

Leonardo winced slightly while Rin also laughed out loud. "Yeah! She keeps asking me, "When's Leonardo, dear, coming back? I haven't seen his handsome face in ssoooo long!'" Both girls laughed at Rin's imitation of her mother.

Nana, Kakeru and Ricky looked at the trio in silent confusion. Nana glanced back and forth between Rin and Leonardo and then an idea lit itself up in her mind. "Hey, Rin, are you and Leonardo...um, like dating, or something?"

Liz, Kat, Tsubaki and Sal burst into hysterical laugher. Tsubaki and Liz rolled on the ground, clutching heir stomachs while Kat and Sal leaned against each other for support as they laughed so hard they started crying.

Previously said pair was just staring at Nana with stunned expressions. "You should freaking see your face, Rin!" Liz choked out in between laughs, "It's damn hysterical!" This sent her into another round of howling laughter.

"I got it wrong?" Nana asked nervously. This was a repeat of what happened in America!

Both Rin and Leonardo unfroze from their shock and Rin started chuckling which quickly turned into full blown laughter. Leonardo just looked a her and then sighed in exasperation.

"No, Nana, we're not dating. Me and Leo are cousins!" Rin tried to bring her laughter under control and looked at her four friends who were still cracking up.

Nana blushed a bright red. "Oh, m-my bad, so-sorry! It's just...I thought...the way you talked-" she decided to stop talking and looked at he ground in embarrassment.

"Cousins?!" Kakeru exclaimed in shock. He looked back and forth between the two and shook his head. They looked nothing alike!

"Our mothers are sisters and Rin's adopted, which is why she doesn't look like me," Leonardo explained to the striker.

"I'm half Japanese and half Russian!" Rin announced with a big smile. "Leo, here, usually spends the summers at my house in the States, so we're really close!" She looped her arm through Leonardo's and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Liz wrapped her arm around him on the other side and smiled, "And I've been best friends with Rin since we were in kindergarten and I love to annoy Leo!" Leonardo shook her off and she grinned at him. "I could tell you all sorts of embarrassing stories about Leo! Wanna hear?" Leonardo gasped in horror and quickly clamped a hand over the red head's mouth. Rin giggled at her friend and cousin.

"That's right, Nana, did Riko and them come yesterday?" Rin asked. She had temporarily forgotten about the basketball team.

Nana nodded. "They were there for entire game. Kagami didn't look like it impressed him too much."

Rin rolled her eyes, "I bet it didn't. He's got nothing 'cept for basketball on the brain!"

Nana pointed behind her, "There they are."

"Wha? Where?" She turned around and scanned the park. Sure enough, there was Kagami, Kuroko, Riko and he rest of the Seirin team. "I wonder what they're doing here." She wondered aloud.

Liz shaded her eyes, "Oh, those are the basketball players we met at the beach, right? Let's go play with them!" she was up and running before anyone else could say a word. Rin followed, a little scared of what she would say.

"Hey!" Liz yelled as she ran towards the boys. "Want to play with us?!" Everyone looked at the energetic red head in surprise.

"Rin, I didn't expect to see you here," Aida said.

She smiled at the basketball coach. "We were just chilling here for a while. What are you guys doing?"

Aida smiled. "I decided that they could use a fun practice so here we are!"

"Cool, want to play with us?" Rin asked. She kept an eye on Liz who was scaring Hyuga and the other second years.

"Soccer?" Aida asked. She thought for a second and then looked at her team and then turned back to Rin with a smile. "Sure!" She received an excited grin in response.

"Awesome! I'll get Liz out of your players' hair." She grabbed her friend by the arm and began dragging her away.

* * *

Kagami watched the short striker drag the eccentric red head away by the arm and couldn't help but shake his head at the fact that there was really people like that out there.

"Guys! We are going to play soccer with Rin and her friends," Aida announced to her team.

"What?!" Kagami exclaimed. "Why do we have to play?" He grumbled.

Aida smiled dangerously. "If you don't, I'll triple your strength workout." All the basketball players grimaced.

"We will work hard," Hyuga said. Aida clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Excellent!"

* * *

"You can't use your hands! Bakagami!" Rin yelled for about the tenth time in the past twenty minutes. The tall power player growled in response and dropped the ball that Nana had sent flying at his chest. Catching it was a natural reaction when something was coming straight at you!

"I got it!" Rin yelled. She ran to take a free kick. She sent it high and long to Kat who chested it down to her foot and shot it across the field to Kakeru. He kicked it into the goal.

"Nice job, Kakeru!" Rin congratulated the boy.

Kagami scoffed. This is stupid, he scowled. Rin saw his scowl and smirked to herself. It's going to be so fun messing with him even more!

Liz, who was on the same team as Kagami, was also thinking the same thing. She sent a purposeful pass to his head and he ducked out of the way just in time to keep from getting hit in the face.

"Hey! Are you trying to kill me?!" He came up yelling. Liz smirked.

"You're supposed to head it!" She nodded to Sal who had trapped the ball and she sent it up in an arc towards her captain.

Liz readied herself and then jumped up and headed the ball to Tsubaki. "Like that!" She looked at the other red head.

Kagami scowled again. "No way! That looks like it hurts!"

"I'm sure your thick head can handle it," Liz said this as if she was comforting him. He bristled with indignation.

Rin slide tackled Tsubaki, who hadn't been paying attention and kicked the ball to Aida. Then she turned and helped her friend up.

Tsubaki took her hand and pulled herself up. When she was standing, she gripped Rin's hand harder and swept a foot across one of her ankles and flipped her in a complete 360. Rin landed on her face with a yelp. "Payback," she said as she brushed her hands together and walked away.

Rin raised her face out of the grass and laughed. "Here," Kat reached down and picked the striker out of the grass and brushed off the grass. She patted her on the shoulder and jogged away.

Rin looked to where Tsubaki was laughing with Liz. "Tsu! You're going to get it!" She charged at her friend and she ran the other way. Rin caught up with her tackled her to the ground. The two rolled around, grappling with each other as the others gave them space.

Leonardo sighed at the sight of his cousin rolling in the dirt. Nothing really had changed from when they were growing up. He didn't say anything because he friends were leaving tomorrow morning to go back to the States. He knew that Rin was treasuring these last moments with her best friends and teammates.

He checked his phone and saw that it was getting late. "Rin!" He called. The two girls stopped for a second and Rin peered up at him through a mess of arms and legs and bodies.

"Yeah?"

"Ricky and I have to leave."

Rin untangled herself and quickly stood up. She grabbed him in a crushing bear hug. "See you! We have to go on a proper date sometime, too!" He has her a quick squeeze in return and they separated.

Liz came up and slapped him on the shoulder. "Leaving? Well, see you someday, Leo." He nodded.

"Safe flight for you guys as well." He said.

The South Americans walked away. A short time later, the Seirin basketball team also left. Kagami refused to say goodbye to them as he was pissed they had shown him up.

"Bye bye, baby tiger~!" Liz sang as she waved to the sour faced red head. Kagami just grunted.

"See you sometime, Rin," Aida said.

"Yeah, tell me how your tournament goes." Rin waved to the basketball coach and her team soon disappeared as well.

"That leaves just us...and Nana and Kakeru, of course," Tsubaki said. She looked between the seven of them with a smile.

Liz sighed loudly. "Well, I hate to say, but we have to et back to the hotel. We're leaving in the morning." she looked sadly at Rin before pouncing on her. "I don't want to leave you! When are you coming back?!" She sniffles loudly.

Rin smiled and patted her friend's back. "In march. That's when the school year ends here."

"But that's almost six months away! I'll die from Rin deprivation!" Liz bawled.

The other four girls from America also joined in the hug. "Well, we'll do it," Tsubaki said determined.

"Yup, we'll have to be extra crazy to make up for Rin's absence." Kat grinned mischievously. Sal didn't say anything, just squeezed her friend tighter.

Eventually, Rin had to break the huddle. They all stepped back, Liz was crying and Tsubaki was about to cry. Rin also felt tears gather in her eyes. She had already had to go through this once before when she left for Japan and now she had to endure the separation again.

"Bye guys, call me when you get home, no matter what time it is here, 'kay?" They all nodded. She gave them each one last hug before she turned to Nana and Kakeru and the three of them started walking back.

Rin tried her hardest not to look back as she quickly walked away from the park. She knew that her friends were also making their way back to their hotel and she missed them already.

She felt a touch on her shoulder and she looked up to see Nana smiling sympathetically at her. Rin nodded, at least she still knew some awesome people in Japan.

* * *

Rin opened the door to her apartment and closed it behind her. Tomorrow she had to get up for school, the first school in two weeks. She sighed and slowly made her way to the kitchen to eat dinner.

After eating, she went into the bathroom and bathed. She spent almost an hour in the bathtub, enjoying the hot water.

She crawled into bed and drew the blankets up to her chin and closed her eyes. Unlike the night before, she fell asleep almost immediately and slept like a log until her alarm woke her up the next morning.

* * *

**I'm going to go back and rewrite a few previous chapters because I'm not satisfied with them, but I'll do it at another time. For now, this fanfic is completed. I might at another chapter; depends on school. Thank you to those who read this :) This will most likely be my last fanfic for a while now that school is back on.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, so I finally got off my lazy as and wrote this chapter. This is the FINAL LAST LAST LAST chapter for this series. I've been think about it and putting off for months, but here it is. If it sucks and is a crappy ending, I apologize. I'm watching The Incredibles as I was writing this so I was a bit distracted.**

* * *

Chapter 7

Rin walked onto the field and stopped in surprise. There was a table set up in the middle of the field and there was a bunch of food on it.

"SURPRISE!" Nana ran up behind Rin and tackled her in a big hug. She turned around as the rest of the Enoshima Soccer Club ran up and gathered around her.

"What is all this?" She asked.

Mako grinned. "It's a surprise good bye party! You're leaving tomorrow, right?" He had a party blower in his hand he blew it in Rin's face. She looked at the offending thing in disgust. She hated those annoying things.

"Nana organized it!" Kakeru exclaimed, he had a pointy party hat on and he was bouncing around with a soccer ball.

"Thanks, Nana," Rin said. She smiled at her.

Nana grinned sheepishly. "Thank you. I thought it would be a good good-bye present, since I didn't know what to get you."

"You didn't have to get me anything!" Rin said, touched that her friend had wanted to get her a good-bye gift.

"Well, instead, you get a scrapbook of all of our beautiful faces. Well, mine, I should say," Araki said, tossing his hair to the side.

Oda growled at the midfielder in annoyance. "Your ugly face, you mean." He mumbled crossly.

Araki feigned shock. "Oda! My face is beautiful! Rin is lucky to get a picture of this!" He patted his cheek. Oda rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Rin chuckled at the exchange. "I'm sure your face is beautiful, Araki." She patted the boy on the shoulder to sooth his ego.

"Thank you. At least someone appreciates my beauty around here," Araki said. Rin laughed.

* * *

Near the end of the party, Rin had to say good-bye and she gave everyone in the club a hug. That was a lot of hugs. When she came to Oda, she held onto his for a few seconds longer than the others.

"See you, Ryoma." She said as she stepped back and looked up at the taller boy.

Oda nodded, a little flustered. "It's been n-nice to know you," he cleared his throat hurriedly and adjusted his glasses.

Rin laughed and gave him another hug before skipping over to the Coach. "Bye bye, Coach Iwaki! Thank you for letting me be a bother to your players for so long. I'm actually surprised you haven't kicked me out yet." They laughed.

Iwaki smiled down at her. "No problem, Rin. It's been a pleasure. You are good for the boys. Keep them in line." He joked.

Rin laughed. "Yup!" The two hugged.

"I'll miss you guys when I go back," Rin murmured.

She let go and stepped away. She looked over the soccer club and felt tears prickle her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and told herself she wouldn't cry. "Bye guys! I'll come back! I promise!" She waved and everyone started waving back.

"Bye Rin!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"Call me, baby!"

Rin laughed when she heard that and yelled. "Maybe!" She turned around and quickly walked away from the field. She turned the corner and then the tears started falling. She kept walking, slowly, as she tried to stem the tears that flowed down her face.

She walked to a park bench and sat down and pulled out the scrapbook and began to flip through it. She felt the tears start up again as she looked back on all the memories she made while she was in Japan.

She looked up when she heard two familiar voices coming towards her. It was Kuroko and Kagami and Kuroko's little dog. "Hey guys," she said, closing the book and setting it in her lap.

They stopped and then sat down next to her on the bench. "What are you doing here?" Kagami asked.

"Just looking at my good-bye present and crying," Rin said lightly. She tapped the book in her lap and Kagami grunted.

"Sentimental stuff, huh?"

Rin rolled her eyes. "Yes, Kagami, sentimental. I am a _girl_ after all."

Kagami rolled his eyes. Number Two stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on Rin's knee and looked pleadingly up at her. She reached down and picked the small dog up. Kagami shifted the slightest bit away from her. "Hey, there, pup. These two treating you well?" She asked the dog. He yipped and wagged his tail. "Good, good," she set him on top of her book and started petting her.

Kagami shifted next to her. "Want to play some ball?" He asked. He was bored and didn't want to go home yet. Kuroko and he were on their way to the street courts anyway.

"Sure," Rin placed Number Two back on the ground and stood up. Kagami followed her and the trio went to the court. She dropped her bag at the sidelines and stepped onto the court. She pushed the sleeves of her sweatshirt up to her elbows and looked at Kagami and Kuroko. "One on one?" She asked.

Kagami threw off his sweatshirt and grinned. "How about you two against me? See if you can manage it." He smirked at Rin.

She rolled her eyes and looked at Kuroko. "Ready?" He only nodded.

Number Two sat patiently watching as his owner ran around on the court with his friends. Kuroko and Rin were an okay team and they managed to get some points past Kagami, but even with the two of them working together, Kagami was still too powerful.

Rin collapsed onto the ground, panting. Kagami was also breathing hard and sweating and so was Kuroko, though he was a lot less obvious about it. "You play so unfairly," she muttered to the tall red-head.

Kagami grunted. "You are just a beginner anyway. Of course I'm stronger than you."

She sighed. "I guess. When I go home, all my friends are going to be like, 'What?! Since when do you like basketball?!' They'll be completely shocked." She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder and turned to say good-bye to the basketball players. "I'm leaving Japan tomorrow so I'll most likely won't see anyone again before then. Tell Riko that I said 'bye' and good luck with your tournaments and bringing down the Generation of Miracles." She held out her hand to the power player and he shook it.

"We will. It's been fun playing with you, even if I always beat you," Kagami smiled. She decided to tactfully ignore his jibe.

"Whatever," she said. Hi grin stretched wider; oh yes, he won this round.

She moved on to Kuroko and held out her hand. "Nice meeting you, Kuroko. Keep this brute in line for me," she winked in Kagami's direction. He flushed and started muttering to himself. _Damn it, she got me!_ He glared at his partner, silently begging him not to say anything.

To his disappointment, Kuroko nodded and Kagami could see amusement reflected in his monotonous blue eyes. _Traitor!_ Kagami yelled in his mind. Rin smirked at the red-head. _I do believe _I_ won that round._ She turned to Kuroko again and smiled at him.

She went to Number Two and knelt down in front of him. He looked up at her and then jumped into her lap. "Good-bye, pup. I'm counting on you to keep all those troublesome basketball players of Seirin in line, ya hear?" She rubbed the little dog's ears and then gave him a kiss on the top of his head. She stood up and adjusted her bag strap again. "Bye guys, I'll come visit again." She waved as she walked away.

Kuroko and Kagami stood there with Number Two, looking after her until she had disappeared from sight and then Kagami looked at Kuroko. "Let's go home." Kuroko nodded and he called to Number Two and picked him up. The trio continued to walk to their houses, in the opposite direction Rin went.

* * *

Rin looked around her empty apartment and sighed. This was the last time she would see this place. She would miss it, definitely. She grabbed the handles of her suitcases and walked out the door, locking it on her way out. A cab sat idling in front of her apartment and she quickly put her luggage inside and closed the door. The drive to the airport was silent and boring. Rin had her headphones in and the scrapbook sat in her lap.

The flight was on time and she boarded the plane with no difficulties. As it began to lift off from the Japanese airport, she looked out the window and saw the city fall away underneath her. She always enjoyed flying. It gave her a sense of invincibility that she couldn't feel down on earth. That was one of the reasons why she employed her acrobatic style; she loved that feeling of brief weightlessness and the freedom she had as she performed her tricks during the game.

She looked forward to seeing her friends in America again. They were her home and even though she would miss her new friends in Japan, her heart would always lay in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

Two transfers and twenty two hours later, she touched down for the final time in her home city of San Francisco. As she walked out of the terminal she caught sight of Kat, who towered above the others waiting for their company, and hurried towards her. She was enveloped into four pairs of arms as she reached the tall goal keeper.

"Guys! I'm back!"

* * *

**Done. Finally done.**


End file.
